What is
TRUTH? It is often very hard for us to know what to believe.
Everyone, it seems, is trying to lead us to their version of
“truth”. As an illustration of this, about ten years ago a freshman
at Eagle Rock High School won first prize at the Greater Idaho Falls
Science Fair by showing how conditioned we have become to alarmists
spreading fear of everything in our environment through junk
science. In his project he urged people to sign a petition
demanding strict control or total elimination of the chemical
“Dihydrogen monoxide” because:

1.It
can cause excessive sweating and vomiting.

2.It
is a major component in acid rain.

3.It
can cause severe burns in its gaseous state.

4.
Accidental inhalation of it can kill you.

5.It
contributes to erosion.

6.It
decreases the effectiveness of automobile brakes.

7.It
has been found in tumors of terminal cancer patients.

He asked fifty
people if they would support the elimination of this chemical
dihydrogen monoxide. Forty-three said “yes”. Six were
“undecided.” And only one of the fifty knew what dihydrogen
monoxide actually is – that it is more commonly known as – water!

Sometimes it seems as though the doctrine of the Trinity, which we
are celebrating today, is like this. Christians strongly affirm
this doctrine – that God is three Persons and yet at the same time
is still only one God – as being an essential part of our faith.
But often, we tend to get so hung up on various “details” of this
doctrine that we fail to appreciate the truth of what it is about.

For
example, throughout history there has been a major disagreement
between the Eastern Orthodox churches and the Western churches
(which include us) about the so-called “Filioque” clause of the
Nicene Creed. We Lutherans, along with Roman Catholics and other
Western Christian denominations confess that the Holy Spirit
“Proceeds from the Father and the Son” – while the
Orthodox churches believe that the Holy Spirit proceeds only from
the Father. Sad to say, in the past people have been
persecuted and even killed by one side or the other over this
“filioque” issue! May God forgive us!

Or in
our modern day, some people object to the traditional naming the
Persons of the Triune God as “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” – and
will go to almost any lengths to avoid using any so-called
“masculine imagery” when referring to God. (To them, it is probably
like using the term “dihydrogen monoxide” to describe
water!) Other more traditionally minded folks don’t see what the
fuss is about and tend to get upset or even angry with those people
who seem to want to “change” our understanding of who God is.

But the
truth about the Trinity does not consist of details such as who the
Holy Spirit proceeds from or of what we should call the Persons of
the Godhead. Nor is this doctrine meant to be a dogma that tells us
what we have to believe about God. Ultimately, the doctrine of the
Triune God is simply an attempt – a feeble human attempt – to
understand and make sense of how we as Christians have experienced
God’s activity in all of its many aspects.

On one
hand God relates to people as an all-powerful Creator who can only
be worshiped from afar. Yet at the same time God also relates to us
so intimately that he (or she, or it) is as close as the air that we
breathe. We Christians also believe that God was and is uniquely
present in the person of Jesus Christ – who lived and died and rose
again to give us salvation and eternal life.

Christians have consistently experienced God in three different ways
– as Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. These ways are so different
that we can say that God is like three different persons. And yet,
the biblical faith is that there is only one God – not three Gods.
The doctrine of the Trinity was born out of this experience that God
is three and yet only one. The greatest theologians of the Church
have been trying to wrestle with the implications of this doctrine
ever since during the past two thousand years. And often, this
wrestling has been unsuccessful, confusing, and even divisive at
times.

But ultimately,
the doctrine of the Trinity is not so much about our “knowledge”
about God as it is about our experience of God. To
illustrate this, Max Lucado, a noted Christian author, tells a story
about a man who wanted to learn how to dance. He went to the
bookstore and bought a how-to book. He took it home and began
studying it and practicing meticulously according to all of its
instructions. He did everything that they told him to do. When the
instructions told him to sway, he swayed. When they said, “lean”,
he leaned. When they said, “spin”, he spinned. He even cut out
paper footprints and arranged them on the family room floor so he
would know exactly where to step.

Finally,
when he thought that he had gotten it all down pat, he called in his
wife and said, “Honey, watch!” Then with book in hand and
reading aloud so she would know he had done his homework, he
followed the instructions step by step. “One step with the right
foot…turn slowly to the left…lean forward, then back…spin
around…etc.” After doing this for a few moments he collapsed on
the sofa and said to his wife, “What do you think? I executed it
perfectly!” And his wife replied, “You
executed it all right. You killed it!”

The husband couldn’t understand what was wrong. He said, “But I followed the rules, I laid out the pattern, I
did everything that the book says…”

But his
wife smiled and said, “You forgot the most important part. You
forgot the music!” With that, she put on a CD and told him to
try again – but this time not worrying about all the steps and just
following the music. She held out her hand, and he got up and took
it. The music started, and the next thing the man knew he was
dancing – without the book!

Lucado
closes his story with this statement: “We
Christians are prone to follow the book while ignoring the music.
We master the doctrine, outline the chapters, memorize the
dispensations, debate the rules and stiffly step down the dance
floor of life with no music in our hearts. Dancing with no music is
tough stuff. Jesus knew that. For that reason, on the night before
his death he introduced the disciples to the song-maker of the
Trinity, the Holy Spirit.”

That is
what the doctrine of the Trinity is about. Stripped away of all of
its theological implications, understanding God as Triune is simply
MUSIC that helps us to dance with God – it is MUSIC that helps us to
praise God in all of God’s fullness!

So what
is truth? The truth about God is that God is far beyond our ability
to fully understand and comprehend. But we can experience God’s
power and providence as from a loving parent – we can experience
God’s forgiveness and love especially as it has been revealed in
Jesus Christ – and we can experience God’s joy and peace through the
ongoing presence of the Spirit among us. THAT is the truth and the
music of the Trinity – God as three Persons, and yet still one God.

Yes, the
doctrine of the Holy Trinity is our song of praise to an awesome
God. Feel the music of this – and let’s dance! Amen!